VOA Today Focus (July 9, 2026)

The program first reports the NATO Ankara summit statement, with NATO reaffirming its commitment to Article 5 of collective defense and increasing defense spending, and Trump praising the alliance’s unity and announcing an expansion of U.S. defense production. The program also reports that the United States, in response to an Iranian attack on a merchant vessel, is striking Iran again, and covers Trump’s talks with leaders of Ukraine and Syria. The latter half focuses on the Hawaii‑Pacific Rim military exercise, U.S.–Japan anti‑submarine cooperation, and China’s submarine‑launched intercontinental ballistic missile test.

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NATO issued a statement reaffirming Article 5 of NATO’s collective defense. The U.S. Central Command just announced on social media X that the United States is once again striking Iran to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States condemns Iran’s unprovoked attacks on freely sailing merchant vessels.

NATO on Wednesday, the last day of the Ankara summit, issued a statement reaffirming Article 5 of NATO’s collective defense. The statement also emphasized that NATO is fulfilling the commitment made at last year’s The Hague summit. Like the The Hague summit statement, this year’s statement still does not mention China.

NATO leaders attending the summit in Ankara issued a six‑point statement. The first point reiterates NATO’s commitment to the collective defense provision of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and the trans‑Atlantic bond: an attack on any one country is an attack on all. The first point also emphasizes NATO’s unity. The second point stresses that NATO member states will fulfill the commitment made last year at the The Hague summit to increase defense spending. The third point concerns building NATO 3.0, meaning that NATO’s European members together with Canada will reduce reliance on the United States and take greater responsibility for European defense.

Other contents of the statement include support for Ukraine and a reaffirmation that Iran must not possess nuclear weapons. Like last year’s The Hague summit statement, the Ankara statement does not mention China. However, the NATO Secretary‑General briefly mentioned China and Russia at a press conference, saying that China and Russia have moved to the north of NATO allies and that NATO must respond together.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, after meeting NATO leaders at the summit in Turkey, held a press conference. President Trump praised NATO for showing incredible unity and making great progress in increasing collective defense spending.

President Trump, at a news conference in Ankara, lauded the atmosphere of unity displayed at the NATO summit. He said he discussed with NATO leaders the common goal of raising alliance members’ annual defense spending to 5% of GDP and that great progress had been made toward that goal.

President Trump said at a press conference that he informed NATO leaders of measures to expand U.S. defense equipment production and sell it to NATO member countries. He said that several U.S. defense projects announced earlier this week, involving American companies including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Anduril, will invest $3 billion. Our equipment is effective, but we must produce it faster for other countries. I reported to the leaders the steps we are taking to rapidly expand U.S. production.

In addition to meeting with the leaders of 32 NATO member states, President Trump also held bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad Shara. He told Zelensky that the United States will allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missiles and will teach them how to do so. President Trump also said he has built a good relationship with Zelensky.

Regarding Iran, after Iran attacked three merchant ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz the day before, the United States responded with strikes. President Trump criticized Iran at the NATO summit on Wednesday for violating the cease‑fire agreement and said the temporary cease‑fire has ended. He vowed to launch more strikes against Iran. In his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad Shara, President Trump praised Shara’s governance and said the United States might remove Syria from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

At this NATO summit, the growth of European defense budgets attracted attention, and President Trump also pledged that the United States will strengthen defense investment and production. Wang Weizheng, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at EDF University, said that NATO members showing sincerity and keeping the United States within the NATO framework is one of the main goals of the summit.

NATO Secretary‑General Jens Stoltenberg will use his authority to explain to President Trump why NATO has done what it has since last year and what countries are doing now to reach the 5% target. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promoting a new concept called the Defense Security and Resilience Bank. Basically, it is a new World Bank, but this bank is intended to raise funds and support the defense industry.

Wang said that if security challenges are truly great, it will quickly become apparent that these European countries, like the United States, have been at peace for a long time and need to restart the defense industry, produce ammunition and tanks—not something that happens in a day or two. Borrowing money from a bank to develop the defense industry won’t work, so the Canadian prime minister says a new “world bank” should be created to provide credit guarantees and other support for these projects.

Wang noted that this concept is just beginning discussion; once it becomes a reality, money will need to be funneled to arms manufacturers for massive, rapid weapons production, which he believes will take several years. NATO must keep the United States involved; he cannot imagine a NATO without the United States. At present, under President Trump’s leadership, relations between the United States and other NATO members face a critical juncture.

Wang believes the biggest future challenge for NATO does not come from enemies or external forces, but from within—whether the United States and European countries can persuade the United States to stay. However, European nations must stand up, do more, and keep this collective security organization, which has maintained roughly seventy‑to‑eighty years of peace in Europe, going.

Liao Yanfan, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Center, also pointed out that facing the military supply chains formed by Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, European countries indeed need to seriously consider strengthening armed production.

Liao said that from the perspective of Chinese observers, Russia, China, North Korea and even Iran have formed a bloc and supply chain, especially in weapon systems, defense systems and related industry integration. Whether this will continue to consolidate and even further develop after the Russia‑Ukraine war is worth noting. This involves competition in the defense, security and production industries.

Liao Yanfan said that a large portion of the artillery shells, ammunition, and drones Russia is now using on the battlefield are obtained through China's production capacity, and a large portion of the personnel rely on North Korea, so their integration has become increasingly close. The problem is that, since the industrial integration between China and Russia is already so tight, how should Europe understand and respond to this issue? This involves economics, raw materials, and also the defense part handled by NATO.

The world's largest Indo-Pacific military exercise is intensively underway in Hawaii. VOA reporters on site captured U.S. P-8A and Japan's P-1 anti-submarine patrol aircraft, and interviewed frontline commanders from the United States and Japan.

VOA reporters at the U.S. Marine Corps aviation base in Hawaii reported that the U.S. and Japanese maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft participating in the 2026 Indo-Pacific exercise are closely observing how multiple countries conduct maritime patrol aviation and joint cooperation. Behind the reporter is a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, which is dedicated to anti-submarine, anti-ship, and intelligence surveillance missions.

At the same time as the exercise, China on July 6 unusually launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine in the South China Sea toward the Pacific, raising questions about how to counter potential threats, which holds high practical significance for the participating nations.

VOA interviewed Colonel Matt Lecher, commander of the U.S. Joint Task Force, on site. He emphasized that the core purpose of the Indo-Pacific exercise is to ensure that participating nations can respond to conflicts at the earliest possible moment. This reflects the significance of tracking submarines during the drills.

Lecher said that five submarines are taking part in the Indo-Pacific exercise, giving all partner nations the opportunity to continuously track submarines, whether in challenging water conditions, harsh seas, or strong winds, and they must hand off information with different partner nations. This fully simulates the operations that would be taken in a real mission when a response to a conflict is required, allowing countries to train together, build relationships, and truly trust each other.

In March of this year, a U.S. P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft flew through the international airspace of the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. at the time stressed that this demonstrated America's firm commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. The core function of the patrol aircraft is to transmit detected underwater enemy activity to allies via an encrypted data link in real time.

Regarding preparations for a crisis in the Taiwan Strait and data sharing with allies, Lecher said this is also one of the core parts of holding the Indo-Pacific exercise. "We integrate allies into all staff command systems," he said, as the joint task force commander responsible for responding to specific mission assignments, with partner nations leading these actions.

Lecher explained that the drill is precisely about how to share data. When a submarine is detected in the operational area, can the intelligence be promptly relayed to commanders, allies, and partners through the data link and secure network? He said that right here, right now, it has been proven that all parties can act together to achieve this and are ready to respond.

Amid rising geopolitical tensions, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces participating in the exercise have become an indispensable key force for maintaining Indo-Pacific security. The aircraft behind the reporter is a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 maritime patrol aircraft, also Japan's domestically developed large fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol plane, primarily used for maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare, and sea-area surveillance.

Regarding Taiwan Strait stability, Lieutenant Colonel Masashi Maeda, commander of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force aviation unit stationed at Naha Base in Okinawa, just an hour's flight from Taiwan, told VOA that Japan will never allow any actions that undermine regional security. Japan will not permit a situation similar to the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine in Asia, so Japan is doing everything possible to maintain a safe, secure environment. He believes that this Indo-Pacific military exercise will contribute to that goal.

Japan's Ministry of Defense recently protested China's frequent military activities, urging China to reconsider missile tests that could threaten Japanese airspace safety. Maeda said that the actions in the Indo-Pacific military exercise will help contribute to a free and open ocean and are closely linked to Japan's defense and deterrence capabilities.

The P-8A and P-1 patrol aircraft normally carry out high‑alert anti‑submarine and maritime surveillance missions and are rarely open to the public. Their appearance at the Rim of the Pacific exercise this time provided a rare opportunity for close‑up observation.

The World Cup quarter‑finals officially begin tomorrow, with France facing Morocco as the opening match. This is not only a rematch of the two teams since the 2022 World Cup semi‑finals, but also an important test for France on its road to the championship. The winner of this match will advance to the World Cup semi‑finals.